The UNSC E Pluribus Unum was an old Halcyon class cruiser. She had been in service for forty years and had seen action in over ten naval engagements. Still she was holding together and continuously surprising her commanders. She was now under the command of Commander William Smith, a battle hardened ship commander. He had seen action in numerous conflicts, starting in Harvest aboard the UNSC Hercules. He was both hated and respected my the members of his crew.

In his bunk, Sergeant Thomas Alcove awoke to the unpleasant felling of transitioning back into normal space. He blinked his eyes to clear his vision and sat up. Over the intercom Smith’s voice grabbed his attention.“Sergeant?” asked Smith. “Yes sir?” replied Alcove.“I need you on the bridge for a special purpose.”“Yes sir , I’ll be right down.”

Back on the bridge Commander Smith stared at Reach. He ordered his crew to put the E Pluribus Unum into a high orbit above the planet. The nav officer nodded and punched in coordinates into his station. Smith felt the ship turn and turned around just in time to see Sergeant Alcove enter the bridge.Alcove saluted and Smith returned the salute.“Sergeant, I have an important mission for you and your squad.” said Smith.“I’m listening, sir.”“Have you heard of the system Zeta Indus?”“No sir, it doesn’t ring any bells.”“I didn’t think it would. Zeta Indus is a yellow dwarf, unremarkable, until a few weeks ago, when an UNSC survey ship, the Heliopause, found something there and sent back a static-laced message saying something about an attack, but we lost contact after that.”

Chapter 1

Date: 24 May, 2543

Location: aboard UNSC E Pluribus Unum; Zeta Indus system.

Sergeant Alcove stepped into Hangar B of the Unum. He was clad in his new armor; it now had Titanium A battle plating and an updated HUD system. He looked out at the vast hangar area. It was occupied by two D77-TC Pelican drop ships and one C709 Longsword fighter/bomber. Alcove walked over to his squad’s weapon locker and opened it. He looked in and pulled out a MA5B assault rifle along with four spare clips. The Serge’s squad came in right behind him, and checked their ammunition for their MA5B’s as well. Alcove gave the thumbs up signal and his squad of six marines piled into the rear of the Pelican. Alcove pulled himself into the Pelican’s troop bay and it sealed. He told the pilot to launch. The Pelican eased out of the bay and the pilot, Flight Officer Jane Anton, activated its reentry computers to calculate the right angle of descent. She got a response and programmed it into her flight control computer and relaxed. The planet, Zeta Indus 2, grew larger in front of them. FO Anton saw endless deserts and small seas covering the whole planet. Anton felt the Pelican hit the outer layers of the planet’s atmosphere and she tensed. In the troop bay, Srg Alcove started to brief his squad. He stood up and put his MA5B on the bench. “Men, we have a special mission on our hands. Those Covenant bastards think they can just destroy our survey ship and go unpunished. We will teach these little buggers a lesson and send them running to their ugly mommies. We will be joined by five more ODST squads once we have cleared their designated landing zone, that’s a five kilometer square area marines. We will meet resistance and I know you act like the soldiers you are and give them a belly full of lead and a reason to hate us. Will you comply with these orders?” “Yes sir!” screamed the marines in unison. Flight Officer Jane Anton broke clear of the first cloud layer at two miles up. She saw her designated landing zone and banked towards it. She told her co-pilot to take over the controls. She flipped up her HUD and sighed. The marines in the troop bay unsealed the door and picked up there assault rifles. Alcove gave them the hand signal to pile out. They did as they were told and their Sergeant quickly followed. Alcove looked around at the alien landscape that surrounded him. He had been dropped of in the middle of a ten kilometer long depression that was situated in a seemingly endless desert environment. He took the safety off of his MA5B and told his squad to follow. He had point.

Back in the E Pluribus Unum, a Lieutenant Colonel, LC Rodriguez, stood in engineering. He was the highest ranking officer in this part of the ship and was the head of engineering. He looked at a display screen. The engines were old and obsolete. They could only generate one tenth of the power of modern fusion reactors. They were also prone to problems. He rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. Out of the blue he heard a loud bang and was thrown of his feet. He landed on his side and hit into a storage tank. He cursed loudly and looked up. He saw flames licking up at the ceiling and people screaming and running. He attempted to get up but he legs did not respond. He had severed his spinal cord. He cleared his throat and flagged down a Petty Officer 3rd Class. “Son, what happened?” asked Rodriguez. “Sir, there w-was a failure in one of the magnetic containment field’s conductor, we’ve lost control of the fusion reactor, overload is iminate.” replied the petty officer, his voice showed fear. “Get of this ship now, that’s an order!” demanded the Lieutenant Colonel. The PO nodded and ran for his life. Rodriguez sat up and looked around; he had underestimated the core’s damage. She would stabilize; just have to give her a few days. Meanwhile they would be venerable to Covenant attack. He hoped that that would never happen, he was sadly mistaken.

Back on the cramped bridge, Commander Smith wiped a line of sweat off of his brow. He knew they were sitting ducks, that’s why he was sending four C709’s to provide recon for the disabled Unum. “I want everyone on station, send the rest of our load of ODST’s to the surface. And I want Sergeant Major Bruno up here on the double,” requested Smith.

Sergeant Major Walton Bruno had gotten a request from the ship’s commander; he was to report to the bridge ASAP. He put on his dress uniform and holstered his pistol, fully loaded with semi-explosive ammunition. Commander Smith looked around and saw Srg Bruno walk into the bridge, with his best uniform on. The Serge was his secret weapon. He was no ordinary ODST, he was part of ONI’s Spartan-I program. He and the few remaining of his brothers either retired or reenlisted after the project was disbanded. He was better than an ordinary OSDT but no match for his Spartan II brethren. He snapped to attention and saluted. “Sergeant Major Bruno reporting for duty,” snapped Bruno. He saw all of the engine readouts on the nav officer’s screen.” Is something wrong? All of the engine’s power is at a bare minimum.” retorted Bruno. Commander Smith looked out of the view screen and saw tiny streaks of light enter the planet’s atmosphere. “The Helljumpers have arrived.”

Back on the surface, Srg Alcove scanned the horizon with his high powered binoculars. He saw nothing, no enemy activity. He saw the streaks of light high in the planet’s atmosphere and knew the ODST’s were on their way. He signaled for his Pelican to release its Warthog LRV. The 3.25 ton ‘Hog bounced once then fell still. “Anton, I want you to get your bird back to the Unum and get me another Warthog,” ordered Alcove. Commander Smith looked at the Tac Screen in front of him. His sensors showed him approach signatures on multiple Covenant CCS battle cruisers. He knew this would happen. His ship was floating dead in the vacuum of space. He ordered his C709’s and D77-TC’s out with as much ammo as they could carry. He picked up the microphone for the ship’s intercom and cleared his throat. “Attention all crew members and marines onboard. We have Covenant cruisers inbound and we have a damaged fusion core. No power for weapons or movement. I want everyone to relocate to their evacuation stations and report to their assigned lifeboats for an emergency departure.” Commander Smith put down the microphone and said his goodbyes to the ship he has called home for two years. He told the ship’s AI, Alexander, named after Alexander the Great, to let his subsystems handle the ship. Smith yanked Alexander and gave him to Bruno for safekeeping until the appropriate time to reactivate her had come. Srg Bruno nodded and made for his life pod, followed by the bridge crew. Commander Smith took the last look at his ship and stepped into his life pod. He told the pilot to disengage. The life pod accelerated into the planet’s outer atmosphere. The Unum would soon fall victim to the merciless Covenant. But the crew wouldn’t lose their morale.

ok dude i am going to lock this thread now and i will open the discussion thread for u book in the proper forum.... whenever u want to update the story just PM me and i will unlock it so u can update it....